Surprises All Around
by mattnme04
Summary: Oneshot - Troy has been fighting in Afghanistan. He isn't due home for three months, so when he returns early, its a surprise. But his wife also has a surprise for him. How will everyone take the news?


**Disclaimer: I do not own HSM.**

**Surprises All Around**

Gabriella sat on the couch in the living room watching the news. Thirteen soldiers were killed today in Afghanistan. _What if he's one of them?_ Bad thoughts swirled through Gabriella's head. Who was she thinking of? None other than her husband, Troy Bolton. She hadn't been able to talk to him for a few months now over the phone. She had only had contact with him through letters, and those only came every couple of weeks. The last one she had received had been a week ago.

Troy and Gabriella had been married for almost five years now. Their anniversary was four days away, and the closer the date came, the more she missed Troy. He had been gone for nearly two years. He wasn't due back for another three months, which would be the two year mark. At that point he would be allowed to come home, hopefully to stay. Gabriella was counting down the days.

Troy Bolton currently sat on a plane looking out the window. He was excited about his homecoming. He was on his way back to the states to return home early, and in order to surprise his wife, he hadn't told her he was coming. He was so excited to see her. He hadn't seen her in nearly two years and was aching to hold her in his arms once again. But before he could go home, he had to report to his commanding officer. His anniversary was in four days and he should make it home by then.

Four days later, Gabriella woke up once again to an empty bed. But today it seemed to be mocking her. Today was her and Troy's fifth anniversary and he wasn't here to celebrate it with her. This was the second year that he had missed an anniversary. _Well hopefully next year he will be here to wake up to._

Already dreading the day, Gabriella slowly gets up out of bed and gets ready to go to work. She works at East High teaching 9th grade science. She loves her job, but today she was wishing she could curl back up in bed and sleep the whole day away. Instead she decided to go to work to try to get her mind off of it.

That evening when Gabriella came home, she walked up to her door to unlock it, all the while thinking that she would just get into some pajamas, get a tub of ice cream and curl up to watch some sad movies for the evening.

However, when she walked in the door, she was greeted with a trail of rose petals that led through the living room and into the dining room. She closed the door and followed the trail. When she walked into the dining room, she found a candlelit table set for one, with a plate full of delicious looking food. _Troy must have put our friends up to this. This looks like the decorating of Chad and Taylor. And probably the food of Zeke._

Gabriella went to sit down and found a card lying next to her plate. She opened it and read it. "_Enjoy yourself this evening. You deserve it, Babe. Happy Anniversary. Love you!"_ Gabriella smiled and looked around, but didn't see anyone. She scooted up to the table and took a bite of the food.

She moaned as she took a bite of the delicious food. "Mmm…definitely the cooking of Zeke."

"Enjoying yourself?"

Gabriella whipped her body around to look at the person who had spoke…her husband. She just sat here with wide eyes, shocked speechless by his presence.

Troy stood there dressed in a tux. "Miss me?"

Gabriella was still too shocked to speak, so she just sat there and stared.

"I guess not." Troy shrugged and turned around, walking out of the room. What Gabriella didn't see, though, was the smirk on Troy's face as he walked out. He knew she was still shocked to see him. Troy heard Gabriella running after him into the kitchen.

Gabriella had tears running down her face. "Please don't leave me! Of course I missed you."

Troy turned around and wiped the tears off of Gabriella's face. "I'm not going anywhere. Actually, I just came to get my plate so I can eat with you."

Gabriella was satisfied with his answer but stayed with him until he had grabbed his plate, then they walked back into the dining room together. When they had sat down, Gabriella just stared at Troy.

"Why are you here? How are you here?"

Troy looked at her and softly smiled. "Why don't we eat first, then after dinner I will sit down and tell you everything?"

Gabriella nodded. The two ate their dinner in silence, Gabriella staring at Troy the whole time, afraid if she looked away he would disappear.

When they both finished their dinner, Troy cleaned up their dishes, telling Gabriella to go relax, but she refused. She didn't want to let Troy out of her sight. So when he wouldn't let her help him clean up, she simply sat and watched him.

When everything was cleaned up, Troy took Gabriella by the hand and led her to the couch. He pulled her down on his lap.

"How are you here? You weren't supposed to come home for another three months."

"You don't sound very glad that I came home early."

"Oh…no! I'm so glad you are here, but I'm just confused on why."

"Well, there were four of us that got to go home. We had been there the longest and they brought in new troops so they were allowing some to go home. I just happened to be one of them, even though I still had three months left."

Gabriella sat silently and listened, holding on to Troy with her head leaning on his chest.

"But that isn't the only reason…"

Gabriella sat up and looked at him, frowning. "What's the other reason?"

"I was injured while there. I have spent the past three and a half months in the hospital because I was shot in the leg."

Gabriella jumped up off of Troy's lap, afraid that she would hurt him. Troy saw this and softly smiled, taking hold of her hand and pulling her back down.

"You're not going to hurt me now. I'm fine now. Everything is healed. I had excellent treatment while there and they made sure it was healed before they sent me home."

Gabriella breathed a sigh of relief before hugging Troy. "I'm so glad you're alright. But you didn't mention this in your letters. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well that's the reason I didn't talk to you on the phone, either. I could have, but I didn't want you to know that I was injured when I knew that I would be fine. I didn't want you to be worried about me."

"I would have been worried about you, Troy. But I still wish you had told me."

"I'm sorry." Troy put his arms around Gabriella and just held her for a few minutes before she spoke again.

"Do you have to go back?"

"No. I'm home now."

"For good?"

"For good."

Gabriella smiled and leaned in to kiss Troy for the first time in nearly two years. When oxygen was needed, Troy pulled back and smiled at Gabriella before leaning back in to reattach their lips. He picked her up and carried her up bridal style to their bedroom.

Troy pushed the door open to their bedroom and laid Gabriella down on the bed then positioned himself so he was straddling her. "I've missed this so much."

"Me too. Welcome home."

Troy leaned down and captured Gabriella's lips again. They spent time reacquainting themselves with each other's bodies.

Later they just lay in bed in each other's arms, enjoying the feeling of being embraced by the one they love. Gabriella was almost asleep when she heard Troy whisper in her ear.

"Happy Anniversary, Baby."

"Happy Anniversary," she replied. They both drifted off to sleep, getting the first night of peaceful rest either had had in a long time.

The next morning, Gabriella woke up and turned over to look at Troy's side of the bed, only to find it empty. _Was last night all just a dream?_ Gabriella was beginning to think that it was when she heard Troy downstairs softly singing. She smiled to herself, thankful she hadn't just dreamed of him coming home. She was about to go downstairs to see what Troy was doing when her cell phone started ringing. It was Taylor.

"Hey, Tay."

"Hey, girl. I didn't wake you up did I?"

"No, actually I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"How are you holding up? Did you drown all your sorrows in ice cream last night?"

"Actually I didn't eat any ice cream last night."

"Oh…well it sounds like things are getting better. I was just calling to let you know that Gracie has been asking for her mama for about an hour now. Are you ready for Chad and me to drop her off?"

"Uh…yeah. Could you give me about half an hour or so? Tay, Troy came home yesterday."

"What?! Are you serious? Oh my gosh! That's so exciting! Wait until I tell Chad. He's going to be so excited to know his buddy is back."

"Yeah. Tay, he doesn't know about Gracie yet. I haven't had the chance to tell him."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So if you could just give me a little bit of extra time so I could tell him before she gets here that would be great. I'm not exactly sure how he's going to take it so I think it would be best if she's not here when I first tell him."

"Ok. Yeah, why don't you just call or text me when you're ready."

"Ok. Thanks. You're the best."

Gabriella hung up and walked downstairs, finding Troy in the kitchen cooking breakfast in just his boxers while singing along softly to the radio. Gabriella leaned against the doorway and just admired her husband.

Troy finally turned around and spotted her, a huge grin appearing on his face when he saw her. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck while his went around her waist.

"Good morning, baby."

"Good morning. What are you cooking?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just so eggs, bacon, pancakes."

"Wow, sounds like quite the feast. What's the occasion?"

Troy smirked. "Well…there's this amazing woman I know and I was trying to make her breakfast in bed but she kinda ruined that when she got out of bed before the food arrived."

Gabriella laughed softly. "Sorry. Didn't mean to ruin your plans."

"That's ok. We'll just eat down here."

"Ok." Gabriella got really nervous knowing she had to tell him about Gracie. "Hey, honey, can I talk to you while you finish cooking?"

"Yeah. What's up? Everything ok?"

"Uh…well…I hope so."

Troy frowned. "I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, I have something big I need to tell you and I'm not too sure how you're going to take it."

"Ok…"

"Do you remember that night we spent together, that last night before you got shipped out?"

"Yeah. That was an amazing night. One night I will never forget. Why?"

"Well, something happened that night."

"What? Did I hurt you or something?" Troy had turned away from the stove and was looking intently at Gabriella, his eyes full of concern.

"No. No, nothing like that…I…uh…" Gabriella took a deep breath before looking Troy directly in the eyes. "I ended up pregnant that night. We conceived a baby, Troy."

Troy's eyes went wide. "A b-baby?"

"Yeah."

"Did you have a miscarriage or something? What happened to the baby?"

"The baby is fine. Her name is Gracie Ann Bolton. She just turned a year old a couple of weeks ago."

"Where is she?"

"She's at Chad and Taylor's."

"Why isn't she here?"

"Well I have been so depressed this past week because I didn't think you were going to be here for our anniversary that Chad and Taylor took her for the night so I could wallow in self pity." Gabriella laughed at the thought of what her plans had been for the previous evening.

Troy turned around and turned the stove off. "Well let's go get her then. I want to meet my daughter."

Gabriella looked at Troy, shocked. "You mean, you're not upset?"

"Upset? Why would I be upset? I have a daughter!"

"Well I was honestly afraid to tell you because I thought you would be mad at me for not telling you."

"Why didn't you tell me? I mean you could have told me over the phone."

"I know. I was just scared to. I didn't want you to be over there distracted and worried about me going through it alone. I wanted to make sure that you kept your thoughts on what you were doing, rather than what might be happening here at home."

"Believe me, at least half the time I was distracted just thinking about what you might be doing at that point in time. But seriously, though. I wish you had told me sooner, but I understand why you didn't. And I'm not mad. Now…let's go get our daughter."

"Actually, Taylor said they would bring her over. Why don't you go get some clothes on then finish cooking breakfast while we wait? I'll go call her and tell her to get here as quick as possible."

Troy nodded and headed upstairs to get dressed. Gabriella called Taylor and told her to head on over.

Fifteen minutes later, Chad and Taylor stood outside Troy and Gabriella's house with Gracie. As soon as Troy heard the doorbell he went racing through the house to get to the door. He yanked the door open and smiled at his visitors. He was happy to see the couple, but all he wanted to do was hold his daughter.

Gabriella finally walked up behind Troy and moved him out of the way as he took Gracie so that Chad and Taylor could come in.

"Wow…I see how it is. He finds out he has a daughter and now he doesn't want anything to do with us," Chad said.

"Give him a few minutes to bond with her. He'll be back to his old self soon enough. You wouldn't believe how excited he was when I told him about Gracie, though. He wasn't upset or anything."

After Troy had bonded with Gracie for a while, he talked with Taylor and Chad and caught up with them, getting filled in on what had happened in Albuquerque while he was gone and filling them on everything that happened to him.

That night as he was lying in bed with Gabriella, he snuggled up to her and whispered in her ear. "Thank you for the wonderful surprise. I don't think I could have asked for a better homecoming gift."

"And thank you for the surprise. I don't think I could have been given a better anniversary gift."

"Seems like there have just been surprises all around."

Gabriella agreed as she snuggled closer to her husband and drifted to sleep, truly thankful for the gift of surprises.

**Please review!!!! Let me know what you thought of it. I wasn't sure how to end it properly. Sorry if the ending was lame.**


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